Breaking Stories: Rummy's Money

San Diego  Marine Captain Duncan D. Hunter, who's running in next year's GOP primary to replace his father Duncan L. Hunter in Congress, has picked up some heavyweight financial support from none other than Donald Rumsfeld, the former defense secretary forced from office after years of dismal news out of Iraq. Now working as a "business consultant" in Saint Michaels, Maryland, according to a campaign-disclosure filing, Rumsfeld gave the maximum $2300 contribution on September 30 to the younger Hunter, who is conducting a remote campaign from Afghanistan, where he is serving his third Middle East tour of duty. The elder Hunter was one of only a few Republicans to go on record against Rumsfeld's presidential dumping after Democrats seized control of both the House and Senate last November, saying, "It was a mistake for him to resign."

Other national figures to contribute to the younger Hunter's campaign include H. Ross Perot, the Texas billionaire and onetime independent candidate for the presidency, who gave $2300 on September 25, and New York's Caroline Hudson Firestone, founder of the New Hudson Foundation, who also contributed $2300 the same day. ... Hillary Clinton, the top Democratic presidential candidate, according to polls, continues to rack up campaign money from notable San Diegans. Third-quarter givers include two former U.S. attorneys here, airport board chairman Alan Bersin ($2300) and Seltzer Caplan attorney Greg Vega, who declined to prosecute Padres owner and fellow Democrat John Moores in the Valerie Stallings 2001 influence-peddling scandal ($1300). Susan Atkins, a biotech specialist at the Republican-leaning PR and lobbying firm Porter Novelli, kicked in $2300. Carlsbad-based self-improvement guru Deepak Chopra gave $4600. San Diego city councilwoman Toni Atkins was down for $500. Nancy Chase, the political and fund-raising consultant from Solana Beach whose causes over the years have included county supervisor Ron Roberts, the Gregory Canyon Landfill, and fallen mayor Roger Hedgecock, gave $1000.